Judge rules New York is liable for death of woman in Wells blaze

By Rick Karlin

Published 9:56 pm, Friday, August 22, 2014

A state Court of Claims judge has found New York state to be "100 percent liable" in the March 2009 death of a developmentally disabled woman who perished in a fire that tore through her state-run group home in the Adirondack community of Wells.

Bonilla, 44, was one of the four disabled residents who died in the fire.

"She lacked preservation skills," said attorney Evan Foulke of Goshen, who is representing Bonilla's family. "She was entitled to be protected from any form of danger."

The precise amount of damages is unclear, although it could be in the millions of dollars, Foulke said.

Following the fire, investigations by the state as well as a Hamilton County grand jury found a number of oversights and lapses in safety procedures that contributed to the loss of life, such as a lack of realistic fire drills and the state's failure to enforce a smoking ban, which likely led to the blaze in the first place.

Bonilla, who could not express herself verbally and was unresponsive to fire alarms, endured a particularly gruesome fate, according to court filings. Those documents reiterated earlier reports that workers initially moved her to the house's "mud room" and tried to extinguish the fire rather than immediately evacuate her.

She was found alive but badly burned more than two hours later and died en route to the hospital.

Other lapses cited in the court papers was the practice of workers at the center calling the alarm company rather than the local fire department right away.

In this case, an assistant fire chief lived across the street, but he didn't learn of the blaze until three minutes after the call had first gone out to the alarm company.

Nine residents lived in the facility and two aides were working when the fire broke out at around 5:30 a.m.

Foulke said the state is appealing the ruling, which could take nine months or more.

After the tragedy, OPWDD toughened its fire drill and other safety requirements.